Rod reducing apparatus



Oct. 10, 1933. c. F. MEAD 1,929,987

ROD REDUCING APPARATUS File n 9, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l I I f a f A f). 42 INVENTOR ('ar/ f Neal ATTORN 5Y5 0d. 10, 1933. c MEAD ROD REDUCING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 9, 1930 Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT FFEQE BOD REDUCING APPARATUS Application June 9, 1930. Serial No. 459,879

Claims.

This invention relates to method and apparatus for the continuous rolling of rods, tubes, bars, sheets or other shapes by subjecting the work in one pass or transit successively to the 5 reducin effect of a series of reducing mills, two or more of which may be eiiective simultaneously upon the same piece of material, all for the purpose of avoiding reheating, reducing oxidation, speeding up the operation, reducing the cost, and

generally improving the reducing effects. The

object of the invention is to provide improved method and apparatus of the character stated which secures the reducin effect by high speed combined forging or swaging and rolling action and therefore can produce at each reducer relatively heavy reduction in minimum time; where in due allowance is made for elongation due to reduction, thereby enabling two or more reducers to operate simultaneously upon the same work; and wherein control or" the amount and rate of reduction within reasonable limits may be readily secured by very simple devices or operations. Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings Fig. 1 represents, somewhat diagrammatically, one suitable. embodiment of apparatus embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on the line 22, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail section, on a larger scale, through one of the hammer rolls; Fig. 3A is a detail sectional elevation of an over-running clutch device; Fig. 4 is an end elevation of one of said rolls, partly broken out and in section to expose interior parts; Fig.5 is a detail sectional elevation, corresponding to the section in Fig. 4, and showing a modified arrangement; Fig. 6 is a detail section on the line 6-6, Fig. 5; Fig. '7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 5 and illustrating still another modification; and Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88, Fig. '7.

While the invention may be utilized for forging or rolling any cross sectional shape, such as for the rolling of sheets, bars or rods of rectangular cross section, it may also be employed upon any other shape, such as for tubes, round bars or rods and the like. In the rolling of tubes, a mandrel might be employed, although not necessarily. The drawings illustrate the invention employed for the reducing of a round rod A, which is led from the left inFig. 1 over suitable guide rolls 1 to a pass between a hammer member 2 and a cooperating anvil member 3, from which pass the rod reduced therein is guided to and travels through one, two, three or (c1. tit-11) more succeeding passes, one being illustrated as including a hammer member 2a and an anvil member 3a, each similar in all respects to the hammer and anvil members 2, 3 before referred to, sothat the description of one set of said members will suii'ice for all succeeding sets.

The pass between the upper and lower rolls 2, 3 is, of course, properly shaped to produce the desired'reduction and in the case of a round rod, the pass would be more or less oval, as shown in 5 Fig. 3, where the bar A lies between the upper and lower hammer and anvil members. Each hammer member includes a series of small or in-- dividual roll or hammer members distributed around the circumference of the hammer roll. Because when a bar lying on an anvil is struck with a hammer, the reduction below is equal to that above, the anvil member may be more or less plain, and in the drawings the anvil memher is shown as a simple plain roll grooved at 4 to form the lower half of the pass. The hammerroll, shown in detail in Fig. 3, comprises suitable means for supporting and drivinga series, twenty being shown, of small roll members 5, each grooved along its middle at 6 to form its portion of the work pass, and each of said roll members being provided with pins or trunnions at its ends journalled in side plates 8 bolted or otherwise secured to the hub 9 of a body member having a sleeve portion 10 keyed to the driving shaft 11. To back up and support each of the several rolls 5, there may be interposed suitable supporting means between said rolls and the hub 9, for which purpose I provide, for example, a series of pins or rolls 12, like the rolls of roller bearings, distributed in'close relation to each other around the periphery of the hub 9 and on which collectively is supported an annulus or ring 13, the outer surface of which backs up and supports the rolls 5, closely adjacent the pass groove.

Suitable driving means for the .roll may be provided, such as an electric motor 33 whose shaft is provided with a driving pinion 14 meshing with a pinion 15 on the shaft 11, and to contrcl'and limit the speed or" the anvil member it may be in timed or driving relation with the hammer roll, such as by interconnecting the hammer shaft 11 and the anvil shaft 16 by the intermeshing gears 17, 18.

in the arrangement shown, the gear ratio between the shafts ll, 16 is about one to five, and the anvil roll 3 is twice the size of the hammer roll 2, as the result of which the rolls 2 and 3 rotate in the relation of ten to one, or, in other Words, roll 2 rotates ten timesas fast as roll ratio may be made capable of variation in any. suitable manner so as to secure any desired In any evcnt, with a given: gear ratio,

efiect. the work will be subjected to rapidly repeated blows of the series of individual rolls5. The action, however, is a sort of combined swaging and rolling action, because eachof therolls 5- rotates individually in its bearings in the plates 8 and when the mill is in operation all of the rolls 5 continue to rotate with the ring, 13 turning' beneath them and rolling upon the bearing pins or rolls 12. I1" desired, for the purpose of t1 n at the beginning of an operation, a strap driver, such as conventionally indicated at 2%, may be mounted on the back side of the hammer member so as to contact" with several of the rolls 5 at a point where they are out of action, the frictional drag producing and maintaining rotation thereof, but the tendency initiating rolling ac of the rotating ring 13 is always to maintain roll rotation.

Of course, as the material travels through a pass of the kind described, considerable reduction in cross section be secured, particularly in view of the repeated combined rolling and hammer action, and as a result the material elongates. the quality of the material is improved by the repeated more or less kneading effect of the surface metal as the result of the hammering or forging action. In the present apparatus and method the material being operated upon may be either hot or cold. In either case, as it leaves the first reducer described, it is immediately and by the same motion passed through one or more suc ceding reducing units. When the material is a rectangular bar, succeeding passes will be at right angles; when it is triangular, succceding passes may be at 120; and when it is round, succeeding passes may be at any desired angular relationship to each other. The drawings conventionally show the second pass-at 90 to the first, but obviously a series of twelve passes at angles of 30 to each othermight be employed if desirable. The second pass is identical with the first except that it is formed and adjusted to a smaller cross section. Its hammer may be driven in timed relation or in any other relation with the first hammer roll 2 and indeed may be driven by the same motor, and the drawings conventionally show the mechanism so arranged. As illustrated, the shaft 11 of the first hammer roll is extended and provided with a bevel gear 21 meshing with a bevel gear 22 on a longitudinal shaft 23 connected by bevel gears 24, 25 to the shaft 110. of the second hammer roll and as the diameters of the two hammer rolls are the same, they rotate at the same speed, although this is not. essential.

As before stated, the anvil roll at the first pass i'spositively driven, not so much for the purpose of feeding the work through the mill as for the purpose of holding it back or limiting its speed. If atleast one of the anvil rolls is not restrained or some other means is not employed for holdat approximately the peripheral speed of the hammer roll, and by limiting the speed of the first anvil roll, the rate of movement at that pass is limited to the peripheral speed of the anvil roll.

Of course, at each pass there is a reduction in cross section and a consequent elongation of the work. Therefore; since the same piece of work is beingsimultaneously operated upon at a plurality ofpoints, one at each pass, with reduction and elongation at each pass, it is desirable to permit more or less free advance or travel of the work at eachsuccessiveipass, so that the mill will be selfaccommodating to the amount of elongation. Therefore, when the anvil roll is restrained or held'back at the first pass, the anvil roll at the second may, be freely, rotatable, and when the anvil roll at the second pass is held back, the anvilroll'at the third pass may be freely rotatable, etc.. The. present. apparatus provides means whereby the anvil. roll'at' the. last pass which at any timemayv be effective upon the trailing end of a piece ofwork travellingthrough the mill serves to restrain and limit its advance, all. other anvil rolls rotating freely. In the arrangement shown the shaft 16a of the anvilfroll'of the second pass is restrainediwhen necessary by means of an overrunning clutch. conventionally indicated at 26, said clutch beingdriven by a shaft 2? operatively connected. to a. suitable. source. of power, which may be one of. the driving shafts of a preceding pass,.butIis-sliownas a separate electric motor 28. The over-running clutch 26' may be of any suitable. type, suchas a ball clutch, but as illustrated it comprises-two relatively rotatable members a, bone carrying one or more pawls 29 and the other a cooperating ratchet 30. As illustrated, the motor drives the shaft 27 to which is attached the over-running member a carrying the pawls 29, and the shaft b is attached to the shaft 16a. The speed ofv motor 28 is such that while the work is engaged in both passes shown, and particularly while its rate of advance is still controlled by the first anvil roll 3, the over-running member a travels faster than member b in the. direction of the arrow 0. Consequently, the second anvil roll rotates freely with no braking or restraining upon it with full'opportunity for any such variation in speed as is necessary on account of variations in elongation. As soon as the trailing end of the work piece leaves the first pass, there is a tendency for the member I) of the over-running clutch to speed up until the peripheralspeed of the sec ond hammer roll is reached, but before that speed is reached member I) overtakes the normally overrunning member a and the cooperating pawls 29 andIratchet-BO become effective and begin to limit the rate of rotation of the second anvil roll by applying the brake or restraining. effect of the motor, which thereby limits the rate of' advance of the work in the second pass.

Similar connections may be made at the third and any succeeding passes, as will be readily understood.

In Fig. 3 the hammer roll is a wheel with series of small individual rolling membersdistributed around its periphery. In Fig- 5 a modification is illustrated, the active or work engaging members in. that View being small rollers 30 carried on the outer arms ofv levers 31 whose inner arms are provided. with idle rollers 32 traveling upon the hub 9a of the hammer roll.v With this arrangement, the active rolls 30 form the heavy ends of the levers and all ofthem are normally held outwardly by centrifugal force, As each of the active rolls reaches work engaging position it imparts a rolling and forging blow to the work and then rebounds to the dotted line position, Fig. 5, the work being struck a second blow by the succeeding roller, etc.

In Fig. '7 the active rolls are eccentrically mounted between the flanges of the hammer roll, each striking its forging and rolling blowupon the work as it comes into active postion and rebounding to the limiting dotted line position, Fig. '7. I

With all arrangements, the work, which may be either cold or hot, and which may also be of sheet or bar form, is subjected simultaneously at different points throughout its length to a combined rolling and forging action with consequent reduction in cross section and elongation, but without any necessity of turning the work around its own axis. Nevertheless, there is no buckling or stretching of the material between passes. As a consequence, in one pass of the work through the mill a very considerable reduction and elongation may be effected with consequent reduction in cost and time over preceding methods and apparatus for the purpose. Furthermore, successive units may be placed very close together so that not only is the mill itself quite compact, but the time from pass to pass is reduced, and when the work is hot one heat is sufficient for all usual methods.

What I claim is:

1. Rolling mechanism, comprising a plurality of pairs of cooperating hammer and anvil rolls arranged to simultaneously engage the work, means for driving the hammer rolls independent drives for the anvil rolls, and means for limiting the speed of the last one of the anvil rolls en gaged by the work at any time.

2. Rolling mechanism, comprising successive pairs of opposed hammer and anvil rolls, means for driving the hammer rolls, means for limiting the peripheral speed of one anvil roll to a rate less than that of its hammer roll, the succeeding anvil roll being mounted for free rotationbut being restrained by the effect of the first anvil roll while the latter is effective upon the work, and means for applying a braking eifect to the second anvil roll when the work passes beyond the first anvil roll.

3. Rolling mechanism, including an anvil member, a hammer roll member cooperating therewith, said member comprising a rotatable hub, a series of roll members distributed peripherally about the axis thereof, and an annulus freely rotatable about the center. axis of the hub inwardly of said roll members and forming a backing for all of said roll members.

4. Rolling mechanism, comprising cooperating opposed hammer and anvil rolls, the former having a series of like reducing members and the latter having an uninterrupted surface, means for drivingthe hammer roll, separate driving means for the anvil roll, and means for controlling the speed of the anvil roll independently of that of the hammer roll to thereby regulate the rate of advance of the work through the rolls.

5. Rolling mechanism, comprising a plurality of pairs of opposed hammer and anvil rolls having alined passes, driving means for said rolls, and an over-running clutch in the drive of the anvil roll of the second pair, whereby said anvil roll can rotate faster than its drive to accommodate itself to elongation of the work at the first pass, but said anvil roll is restrained by its drive when the work moves wholly beyond the first pass.

CARL'F. MEAD. 

